A case can be made for Rupp due to his silver medal as well as American record in the 10k. Purely putting Ritz at the top due to his high ranking in many events is somewhat unfair to earlier generations in which the times were slower. One could compare personal best times to world records at that time. Salazar was three seconds off the 10k world record, three seconds off the 5k world record, and set a marathon world record though the lack of a blue line meant his time would probably have put him right at the record. Pre was six seconds off the 5k world record and 10 off the 10 record though he ran the 10k all by himself in a low key meet in Cali. A bery subjective topic that we could all argue about forever.